OccupySacramento

This afternoon, I attended the Occupy Sacramento's march and general assembly in the historic Caesar Chavez Park in middle of Downtown.



Before I arrived, I had to hop one bus and one light rail trip to get to the park that is situated in one of the most popular spots in midtown. After paying for my $6 daily pass, I hopped on the bus thinking about how that expense may have prevented many different people from attending this monumental event. In Sacramento, a daily pass is $6 while one individual trip regardless of what the distance is between the two spots (200 feet or across the city), the cost is $2.50! Needless to say, the output of energy that is focused on attending protests could be increased by the presence of cheaper transportation costs. In cities where density is high seems, to me, to be more conducive in creating a pathway to gather large crowds of people.



Nonetheless, I walked off the light rail- rounded the corner onto J Street where the protest was held. I looked ahead and recognized a few protesters on the high-traffic corner of J Street and 8th Street. There were protestors on both sides of the corners. I crossed the street and walked into the park. I spotted Cindy Sheehan railing behind the bull horn getting people fired up about the issues. I heard that she would be present and I appreciated the opportunity to hear her speak on the issues for 20 minutes. After some additional instructions from organizers, we were on our way to march toward the capitol. We chanting either "We are the 99%" or "What does democracy looks like- this is what Democracy looks like" will full vigor. I stood with the crowd not wanting to lose my voice but didn't really have a choice. Everyone was mindful of the rules and stayed on the sidewalk. Organizers moved along the march lines to keep up the energy and stayed chanting the whole time with us. One of the most best moments was when we rounded the one block so we had clear view of all of the protestors moving in a U-shape toward the capitol. It was great to see so much excitement and so much energy pouring out from people of all ages and ethnicities. We marched approximately 15 minutes toward the steps of the capitol of the Golden State. We gathered together in a fan-shape around the steps and after a few minutes were told to sit. After sitting, I glanced behind me and saw a flood of protestors sitting peaceably and quietly. We heard about 5 speakers giving inspirational to informational speeches. Occupy Sacramento's lawyer was one speaker. He told us with conviction that (paraphrasing)...



the local media has framed Occupy Sacramento as disorganized and fragmented. There is talk about the mob rule. Well, I would like to say that the government permitted two wars to be fought. Where was their plan?



This, of course, reigned in chunks of applause and hard claps. Other speakers renewed our sense of social change and how this movement is more than a general movement- it is a global revolution- an international consciousness expansion. One spokesperson read aloud and told us to repeat the 7 demands of the Occupy Movement:



1) End the Collusion Between Government and Large Corporations/Banks, So That Our Elected Leaders Are Actually Representing the Interests of the People (the 99%) and Not Just Their Rich Donors (the 1%).



2) Investigate Wall Street and Hold Senior Executives Accountable for the Destruction in Wealth that has Devastated Millions of People.



3) Return the Power of Coining Money to the U.S. Treasury and Return to Sound Money



4) Limit the Size, Scope and Power of Banks so that None are Ever Again “Too Big to Fail” and in Need to Taxpayer Bailouts



5) Eliminate “Personhood” Legal Status for Corporations



6) Repeal the Patriot Act, End the War on Drugs and Protect Civil Liberties



7) End the Imperial Wars of Aggression, Bring the Troops Home from All Countries, Cut the Military Budget and Limit The Military Role to Protection of the Homeland



After some more informational discussion, we were on our way back to Caesar Chavez park. Once again, the protestors took the time to chant which included to the on-lookers in office buildings, other pedestrians, or people driving in the area. We all settled back in the center of Caesar Park where announced were made that the General Assembly would be starting in about an hour. Meanwhile, I sat and wrote some notes while two late-to-mid-twenty-year-old people sat next to me.



Honestly, I didn't know how involved I was going to get until the march started -I was just going to go there and get some interviews. But when the march started, I invested in giving my voice up for chanting. However, there at the park, I wanted to get engaged so I turned my shoulder and asked the couple about why there here today beside the obvious reasons. One of the them talked about how she wanted to see changes in the educations system and how we do not learn about how the systems in the social world work. There isn't any educational programs that help us see what really goes on in many different realms. The other person was quite assertive in saying that he would love to see a changing of consciousness happen. He said that people are regular things to do and they don't really understand what's happening around them. They bills to pay and children to raise. They can't invest themselves in figuring out the banking system. They seemed quite exciting about the whole movement and acknowledged it's international presence. After discussing a few other items, I thanked them for their time and walked over to get a better view of the general assembly which had almost started.



The GA, as they call it, simply started out by the facilitator telling the people about each agenda point. The main feature of this night's GA was whether or not the GA wanted to adopt the Occupy Wall Street's declaration. The GA passed it. You can read it here.



http://occupywallst.org/forum/first-official-release-from-occupy-wall-street/



Some people wrote a Occupy Sacramento declaration which was up for a vote in the GA in order to be adopted. That vote was turned down. Prior to the voting, the GA had a "stack" which is a procession of people who stand in line to proclaim their two-cents on the matter at hand. Two stacks were made for each call for adopting the Occupy Wall Street declaration and the Occupy Sacramento declaration. Many expressed that in order to keep international solidarity in the Occupy movement, the Occupy Sacramento declaration should not be adopted. A good point was raised in that Occupy Sacramento will be partnering up with the Davis, CA, San Fran, CA, and the Berkeley, CA Occupy protests soon and to adopt the Occupy Sacramento declaration would make it difficult to collaborate with others.



So, as of 6.42pm Oct. 15 Pacific time, the Occupy Sacramento GA adopted the Occupy Wall Street declaration.



Night was falling and the crowd was waning but the facilitator was still robust in her presence and rule keeping. Signs still lay circled around the fountain in the middle of the park such as "The end is near (thank god)" and "Stop the Keystone TL pipeline". People were putting them back on the ground where they took them at the beginning of the day. The pop-up tents were still out. Sprinkles of people were still present when I departed.



Hopefully more to come. Live on in peace.